Iraqi parliament meets

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Amid tight security and the sound of explosions, Iraq’s new
parliament met for the first time Wednesday as Iraqi politicians and citizens
alike urged lawmakers to stop bickering, form a new government and tackle the
country’s problems, particularly the insurgency.

The source of the blasts, which apparently came from mortars, was under
investigation by the U.S. military. The explosions rattled windows in the
auditorium inside Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, where lawmakers
gathered at 11 a.m. (3 a.m. Fort Wayne time) for the first meeting of a freely
elected parliament in Iraq in almost 50 years.

U.S. helicopters hovered overhead, and several bridges approaching the Green
Zone were closed because of the threat of suicide bombings, car bomb attacks and
other potential insurgent strikes.

Coalition intelligence sources had received numerous reports that insurgents
would try to disrupt the assembly’s opening with a major strike, and traffic in
many areas of the capital ground to a halt as Iraqi police and coalition forces
manned checkpoints to search vehicles and check identification.

In the worst violence of the morning, a car bomb exploded near an army
checkpoint in Baqubah, 35 miles north of Baghdad, killing three Iraqi soldiers
and wounding eight other people.

The opening of the National Assembly was delayed twice because top political
leaders wanted to have a coalition government ready to take office before the
parliament convened. But negotiations between the two best represented groups –
a Shiite coalition with 140 members known as the United Iraqi Alliance and a
Kurdish coalition with 75 lawmakers – have bogged down.

Citizens and religious leaders concerned about the country’s political drift
and security situation forced the National Assembly to go ahead with Wednesday’s
session, which was scheduled to mark the anniversary of a deadly chemical
weapons attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja, about 150 miles northeast of
Baghdad, that was ordered in 1988 by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. About 5,000
people were killed in the attack.

The meeting, televised live across Iraq, opened with readings from the Quran
and speeches from senior members of the interim government. It continued for
about two hours with 275 members being sworn in.

In the absence of a coalition government, the interim Iraqi government led by
Prime Minister Ayad Allawi remains in charge. A final accord on policy goals
would smooth the way for the formation of a coalition government with Ibrahim
Jafari, the interim vice president who heads the Shiite Dawa party, serving as
prime minister. Jalal Talabani, a key Kurdish leader, would fill the ceremonial
post of president. But appointment of the government could be days or weeks
away, Iraqis involved in the talks said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, one of the United
States’ most ardent supporters on Iraq, said Tuesday he intended to begin
withdrawing his country’s troops in
September.